


I Build Bridges With These Arms.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Hufflepuff Dudley Dursley, Magical Dudley Dursley, Yay WIP finishing!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28739142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: Dudley pulled an identical letter out of his back pocket.
Relationships: Dudley Dursley & Harry Potter
Comments: 16
Kudos: 148





	I Build Bridges With These Arms.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Big Houses by Squalloscope.

1.

Harry knew he was nothing special. He was the weirdo, the freak. Nothing went right with him, nothing at all.

And then there was a giant banging down the door, and then _he was magic_ , and then there was something special about him for once, and then--

\--and then Dudley pulled an identical letter out of his back pocket.

2.

Aunt Petunia took the both of them to Diagon Alley and to the platform. They went their separate ways on the train, and as soon as Dursley, Dudley was sorted into Hufflepuff, Harry started praying: not Hufflepuff, not Hufflepuff, not Hufflepuff. 

"Not Hufflepuff?" asked the hat. "And not Slytherin? My, my, not leaving me with very many choices here. You wouldn't do well in Ravenclaw, so I think overall, best be GRYFFINDOR!"

What Harry knew about Gryffindor couldn't fill a thimble, but it wasn't Hufflepuff with Dudley, and it wasn't Slytherin like that boy from the shop. He'd take it.

3.

Harry mostly managed to avoid Dudley. They had some classes together, but, by mutual unspoken agreement, never did more than look at each other. Dudley went home for Christmas; Harry stayed at Hogwarts. Harry fought through the traps to the Stone with his friends; Dudley found out about it all with the rest of the school. They did not sit together on the train back. They only begrudgingly sat next to each other in the car home.

At Hogwarts, Harry was special and Dudley was not. At home, Dudley was the darling, but Harry had a room of his own now. The Dursleys did not dare lock up Harry's school things. in fear that Harry would then steal Dudley's. Harry did his homework upstairs in his room; Dudley did his homework downstairs, while his parents refused to notice what he was doing. Dudley nearly spoke to Harry about his Transfiguration homework. Harry nearly spoke to Dudley about Potions.

The neighborhood had been told that Dudley had been accepted to a prestigious foreign school and Harry had tagged along as a scholarship student. Dudley had once ruled the neighborhood bullies, but that summer, Dudley kept them away from his cousin. Dudley had spent a year in a school where physical intimidation meant very little and had been forced to make friends of a different nature, had been forced to study something he had never known before, and had watched as Harry had become a school hero. It had left an impression, even if it hadn't left anything more. 

Camaraderie came in their second year. Dudley knew that Harry wasn't the Heir to anything, let alone a Hogwarts founder. And Harry wasn't going to go around killing muggle-borns. Sure, Harry might have it out for a few _muggles_ (Dudley had no illusions about how Harry felt about Dudley's parents, an impression he was uncomfortably beginning to share), but Harry's best friend was Hermione Granger. Anyone in Hufflepuff who tried to say anything about Harry got met with Dudley's fists. And so Dudley sat detentions, and Harry heard voices, and that year ended with an obliviated professor and a dead basilisk and uncomfortable realizations that Harry had never lied about snakes.

His parents had called Harry a liar since before Dudley could remember. He'd never doubted it until he'd gotten his Hogwarts letter. But this was more than just the magic, this was everything that had made Harry seem strange. If Harry wasn't a liar at all, what else about Dudley's childhood wasn't true? If Harry wasn't normal because he did magic, if Harry deserved to be treated badly because of it, what did that make Dudley?

Dudley decided: if it was muggles against wizards, then Dudley was a wizard. There were wizards who didn't like that, and Dudley knew his parents wouldn't like that, but Dudley was a weirdo just like Harry and cousins had to stick together.

4.

That summer, Dudley helped Harry run away from home.

The next summer, Dudley helped Harry run away from home again.

"Trying to kick me out, Dudley?" Harry asked. And Dudley had responded "yes", as if Harry Potter were safe at all in his house, as if Harry didn't have friends who wanted to take him in, as if Dudley could protect Harry at all.

It was new, wanting to protect Harry. But Harry was breakable in lots of ways that Dudley never was. And when they were younger, Dudley had mostly broken him. It had been funny at the time. It wasn't funny now. Dudley had a lot of black eyes and bruises to make up for. No one got to hurt his cousin.

At school, people _kept trying to kill Harry_. No one got to do that. Dudley had been the first one to hurt Harry and he was gonna do his best to make sure no one else was ever going to do it. Harry was supposed to be safe _somewhere_. And he wasn't safe at Dudley's home, and he wasn't safe in school, so he could go be safe with his friends as far as Dudley was concerned. Harry _should_ go be safe with his friends.

No one ever hurt Dudley. He was bottom of the class, but he was big and he played Beater. He fit people's ideas of what he should be and didn't make waves. Harry made waves by breathing.

So, yeah. Dudley was going to kick Harry out. He was going to help him run away from home.

And when anyone called Harry a liar, Dudley used his fists first and his wand second. Wizards never expected a punch in the face.

5.

Voldemort died, and good riddance.

Dudley sat two NEWTs, which was more than any Hufflepuff expected from him. His parents still hoped he'd get a normal job. His parents hoped they could ignore the last seven years and he'd be their precious son again, no tinge of anything weird stuck to him. Instead, Dudley rented a room in Diagon Alley and opened a boxing school. 

Dudley remembered that much from having to listen to his father's colleagues. Find an unexploited part of the market and then corner it. Wizards didn't know _anything_ about self-defense. Dudley had snapped a lot of wands in his seventh year. It was educational. Probably more for them than for him. Dudley was never magic until he was. All his accidental magic was blamed on Harry. And for purposeful magic? A charm to sneak away someone's wand wasn't hard, and wizards never expected you to do it. Wizards thought snapping someone's wand was the worst thing you could do to them. Dudley'd been tortured; snapping a wand was _nothing_. It was wood. It wasn't a life. Dudley used to break gameboys; a wand was just a stick of wood. Wizards were weird. It was like they thought wands were what made them what they were.

Dudley's boxing school was a quiet success, enough that he wasn't begging his parents for money all the time. Harry came around every so often. Dudley's parents never visited. There were limits to how much they wanted to see him be something they never wanted him to be.

Harry invited Dudley to his wedding. Dudley introduced Harry to his boyfriend. There was a peace that you only get with someone you had a history with.

Harry was the special one, the famous one. Dudley wasn't, but he was a wizard. But he was also Dudley Dursley. He knew how to lie to his parents and their friends. He could still make nice. He still went home.

Dudley kept his Hogwarts letter framed in his cluttered office at the school, next to his diploma, and a muggle photograph of his family.

Harry didn't know what happened to his own Hogwarts letter. His office was full of photographs and mementos and souvenirs.

In both their offices, in a corner, there was a photo of the two of them, arms awkwardly around each other's shoulders. At Harry's wedding, Bill Weasley had motioned them over and said, "now for a photo of the cousins" and they had both tried to smile and it came out more like grimaces, but there it was. The two Evans boys: Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter. Wizards. Cousins.

Even, eventually, friends.

(Eventually.)

**Author's Note:**

> [this post on dreamwidth](https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1176925.html); [this post on tumblr](https://lannamichaels.tumblr.com/post/640233664923484160/i-build-bridges-with-these-arms-lanna-michaels)


End file.
